olight warrior mini review

There is no shortage of flashlights, tactical lights and weapon lights flooding the market today. Some are good, some are trash, and few are exceptional. I learned long ago that when you find a product that claims do be better than the competition for about 25% the cost, it is usually not true. Either the build quality , the functionality, or life of the product will suffer. Believe me, the manufacturer is NOT shorting themselves, they are shorting you. So, lets forget about the garbage and focus the exceptional.

I have heard of Olight before. Also read very positive remarks. I had to get my grubby hands on one and see for myself. I mean they are priced very competitively if what you get is what is claimed. What I got was the just released Olight Warrior Mini. Spoiler alert, you do not get what you expect. You get more!

The Warrior Mini comes well packaged with a lanyard, magnetic charging cable, 3500mAh 3.6V Rechargeable Lithium Battery and 2 way belt/pocket clip. Once you handle Warrior Mini, it becomes apparent that this is a well built flashlight. The Aluminum frame is solid, the stippled grips, belt clip and finish are also superb. The thickness of the bore is about 15/16" or 23mm, so a standard light clip would work fine should you choose to attach it to a rifle.

There are many really cool features built into the Warrior Mini. The first I want to mention is the magnetic charging cable. This is a god sent. CR123 batteries are not cheap, and most of the decent tactical lights on the market take them. The lithium rechargeable battery and ability to simply toss the magnet at it is awesome.

Next is the function. The Warrior Mini has 6 different light settings. From 1 Lumen which will stay on for 45 days to 1500 Lumens lasting about 4.4 hours. (sort of, we will cover this in a minute) In layman's terms, from barely on all the way to "Jesus H, get that out of my face"!

The turbo and strobe mode @ 1500 Lumens is no joke. It easily lights the Palms trees across the street from me probably 300 feet away. The strobe would easily disorient anyone in a dim or dark room. We actually tried this. You know, just for the thrill of it. It was a lot of fun until I was on the receiving end.

The Warrior Mini is not a spot light or a flood. It is somewhere in between. I find it perfectly suited for use on or off a rifle. It is waterproof and drop tested at 5 feet. The light temp. or color is between 6,000-7,000K. It is a true or slightly Blue White color. Not the Yellow Warm White.

The turbo mode @ 1500 Lumens is no joke. It easily lights the Palms trees across the street from me approximately 400 feet away. The light is not a spot light or a flood. It is somewhere in between. I find it perfectly suited for use on or off a rifle. One thing I did notice. On turbo mode the top of the light gets pretty darn warm. Actually, it gets hot. So I would advise keeping your fingers away from the top of the light. To prevent overheating the light is programed as follows.

Turbo or MAX mode @ 1500 Lumen can be used for 4 minutes. After 4 minutes, Lumens will decrease to 500 Lumens, allowing it be used another 205 minutes. After 205 minutes, Lumens will decrease to 170 Lumens, for an additional 55 minutes.

Be that as it may, 90% of the time, turbo mode is not needed. Even on medium or high mode it is still significantly brighter than other larger lights I own.

There are two buttons on the Warrior Mini. The button on the handle is used to turn on or off, switch the brightness, strobe or lockout the flashlight completely. Lockout Mode is used while in a backpack, purse or pocket preventing the light from accidentally turning on. If you press the switch on handle 3x quickly, it will activate the strobe mode.

Around the handle or bore switch on the Warrior Mini, there are multi-color indicator lights. The different colors represent the level of battery remaining. (see picture to the left) This is a great feature which enables you to visually see if you need a charge with your USB plug on the way to your destination. Nothing is worse than arriving at your destination and having to track down or borrow a CR123 battery from someone. Total rookie move. (just an FYI, I have done this before. On a few occasions).

The second button on the end of the light can be pressed halfway to recall the last brightness setting or depressed fully for instant turbo mode. This is very convenient in a hurry.

Overall, I am very pleased with the Warrior Mini. It performs better and has more features than other lights that actually do cost more. (I won't mention any names, but lets say the "other" lights are ex"stream"ly popular). I am not the only one who was impressed with the Warrior Mini. The team loved it and will be ordering a few for themselves. I also showed off the flashlight to my father. He has already purchased one.

As previously stated. There are a few products that actually deliver. The Warrior Mini is one of them. It is always a delight to find an exceptional product that is priced in my budget. Especially when the products exceeds my expectations. Let's not forget the 5 year warranty, that is the icing on the cake. Well done Olight!

article written by, Jeff | Ballistics101.com

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